


when i am with you it all melts away

by ContrEeri



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 22:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14942666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ContrEeri/pseuds/ContrEeri
Summary: They've done this countless times: sparred until the dark of night stole over them, until they were so worn Lee would give a joyous, exhausted shout before flopping onto the grass. Gaara always joined him. They would stay like that for hours, often silently enjoying the company of one another and the stars twinkling above. But something is different about tonight, something besides the night has stolen over them...





	when i am with you it all melts away

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've had anything to post, but I've been trying to get myself back into the swing of things! I posted a little prompt challenge thing on Tumblr, and this was actually more than I'd intended to write and was incredibly well received so I figured why not post it here. I challenged myself to keep it short, and while it was longer than I'd intended, it is Very Short by my usual standards--like this is nonexistent as far as my usual standards go but like brevity is the soul of wit or w/e right? Anyway, hope y'all enjoy! 
> 
> This was prompt 6. things you said under the stars and in the grass

“Do you ever regret it?” 

“Regret what?” 

Gaara shifted. The grass irritated his skin, but lying next to Lee had made him forget for a time. The blades of grass grazed his exposed skin like the echo of a narrowly dodged kunai.

“Meeting me.” He glanced down at Lee’s leg, up to the now bandage-less arm. Lee had shed the top half of his suit an hour earlier when their sparring had become more intense. His bandages had been dirty by the end of it and now lay in a heap at his side. 

Lee blinked up at him, confused. The thought had never crossed his mind. Gaara breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I am stronger for having met you,” he said, an earnest whisper, his voice trembling. 

“I could have killed you.” 

Lee smiled at Gaara, soft and tinged with sadness. “But you did not.” He reached out, the movement of his scarred hand more tentative than Gaara could ever recall Lee being. Tentative was not a word he’d ever use to describe Rock Lee. 

“I could have ruined your dream,” Gaara countered, the words coming like a breeze, almost too soft to hear. 

“No.” Lee’s seemed to find his courage because his hand moved, no longer dithering on what to do, and took Gaara’s. Lee looked up, meeting Gaara’s gaze. “I would never have given up, no matter what.” 

Gaara felt many things all at once, but his mind stuttered, stuck on the fact of Lee’s hand holding his, scarred and calloused and weathered like Suna’s buildings. Too many days in the sun, too many hours of grueling training, one horrible encounter. Gaara tried to pull away. 

Lee was too strong. 

“I have never been anything special,” Lee said, watching Gaara. His gaze was too open, too honest, and Gaara who had spent his whole life searching for this moment wanted nothing more than to run. “But when I am with you, I forget about that. When I am with you, I think I am splendid.” 

“Lee…” 

Lee relaxed his grip on Gaara’s hand–he might have been planning on pulling away, but Gaara held on tight, a sudden and all-consuming need to feel crawling through his veins. Lee’s eyes were as black as the night sky, unpolluted by the lights of the village, and they reflected the stars above them, a mesmerizing galaxy staring right through Gaara, like a shot through the heart. 

He couldn’t say who moved first, but the stars in Lee’s eyes were suddenly in his personal space, comets streaking to meet the earth. Gaara didn’t close his eyes, too afraid to see the stars wink out of existence.

When Lee pulled away, Gaara was shaking, words lodged in his throat along with his heart. 

“Was–was that okay?” Lee asked, a note of fear in his voice. 

Gaara’s breath escaped him all once, words tumbling like sand from his gourd. “When I’m with you, I don’t think I’m a monster.” 

Lee smiled. “Then you should be with me always.”


End file.
